Super Bombshell!

Ma Xixi stared at the contact name "Little Bro" on his phone screen, disbelief written all over his face.

The player "Ma Xixi I'll Top Kill You" had become pretty popular in the community lately. After all, plenty of streamers had been driven half-mad by him in high-ranked 5E matches.

Players had also called out "Ma Xixi I'll Top Kill You" as a cheater from all sorts of angles.

A lot of people watched with their minds already made up, and most of them thought he was cheating.

Quite a few people in Ma Xixi's livestream had asked him about it before, but it was a tricky subject for him to respond to. After all, this guy was using his meme name to run rampant in ranked matches.

Now that they'd run into each other, Ma Xixi had no choice but to face the controversy head-on.

But he never would have guessed that the player behind that ID was someone he knew—and knew very well.

Now he finally understood why "Ma Xixi I'll Top Kill You" had said he knew whether he was cheating or not.

Because the guy was his own cousin!

Jiang Yang had always been talented at the game. He'd reached S rank in no time before, and he had neither reason nor need to cheat. The kid still wanted to go pro, after all.

As Ma Xixi sat there stunned, Jiang Yang's voice came through WeChat again.

"Cuz, hello? Hello? Is the signal bad?"

Ma Xixi came to his senses and asked in disbelief, "Yangyang, how could it be you?"

It was an answer he never could have guessed.

As far as he knew, Jiang Yang was talented at the game, but he'd always assumed his cousin was still around Perfect World's S-rank bracket.

Jiang Yang was playing at this level on 5E, with these stats. Even most pros couldn't pull that off.

This was the highest level in the country!

How could it be Jiang Yang?

Ma Xixi was utterly astonished, and the "Helmets" in the CSBOY livestream were just as shocked.

Thanks to CSBOY's huge reputation in the scene, Jiang Yang had been up to all sorts of antics when he worked as Ma Xixi's assistant.

Even now, memes like "I can hear the sound of ECO" and "Why... don't you want to?" were still circulating in the CS:GO community.

On top of that, Jiang Yang was exceptionally handsome, which had made him well known in the scene. Even people who didn't watch CSBOY knew Ma Xixi had a handsome cousin.

Quite a few longtime CSBOY viewers recognized that familiar voice and couldn't sit still.

[No way!!!]

[Holy shit, it's his cousin!!]

[His cousin reached the top of 5E already?]

[Come on, man, it's only been a few months. He's already at the top of 5E?]

[Wait, wasn't his cousin playing on Perfect World?]

They could hardly believe it, and wondered if they'd heard wrong.

Then Jiang Yang spoke again in his fake Guangxi accent: "Cuz, why couldn't it be me~"

Ma Xixi asked, baffled, "I mean, how did you get to such a high rank? And weren't you playing on Perfect World?"

"I just practiced my aim and watched demos every day. Got a little better at a time, and before I knew it, I'd climbed up." Jiang Yang rolled his eyes as he spoke. "And as for not playing Perfect World, I already reached number one there this morning."

Ma Xixi opened Perfect World Platform on his computer and clicked on the leaderboard. In second place was the familiar ID "Miss, get out of the way."

The player in first was only one star ahead of him. Clearly, they'd taken advantage of Jiang Yang playing 5E to climb past him just now.

Ma Xixi was starting to sweat. "That can't be right! Is it really that easy to get first on Perfect World?"

Ma Xixi had once played professionally. He hadn't lacked talent in CS:GO when he was younger, but even he hadn't thought getting first on Perfect World was all that easy.

After their heart-to-heart at the end of summer vacation, Ma Xixi could have brought Jiang Yang into the livestreaming business.

But he was still afraid Jiang Yang might get swept up in the moment and try to go pro if he stayed in the scene.

He'd figured that once Jiang Yang started college and got into other games, he'd gradually lose interest in going pro.

After all, making a name for yourself as a CS:GO pro was incredibly difficult.

Even if you had talent, it wasn't enough unless you were exceptionally gifted.

So Ma Xixi had planned to wait for the young man's enthusiasm to fade, then slowly bring Jiang Yang back into the streaming scene. That way, his cousin could still earn a decent living in the future.

But now he realized he'd underestimated his cousin's talent at the game.

MO, who had been listening the whole time, spoke up. "Xixi, ask him how many hours he's played CS:GO."

Ma Xixi asked him directly.

"How many hours? Let me check." Jiang Yang switched back to Steam and took a look. "498.7."

As soon as he said that—

"How many??"

MO felt the image of the "young genius" he'd built up for himself shatter into pieces.

Leon Kai had just finished a ranked match with his useless little brother, Hamburger.

His useless little brother, Hamburger, stretched. "It's definitely a lot easier without any weird stuff, haha."

"Honestly, it's been fine. I haven't run into many cheaters in ranked lately," Leon Kai replied. Even though the match had been easy, he knew his own form had been slipping. He couldn't blame anyone else for that.

Once you decided someone was cheating, it became difficult to improve yourself.

He'd just finished the match when he saw the Secondary Screen filling up with comments.

[Huge bombshell!]

[Holy shit, that Helmet cheater from the other day is Mr. Ma's cousin.]

[What! Mr. Ma's cousin got exposed for cheating?]

[Don't start rumors. Mr. Ma's cousin is a straight-up young genius. We watched him get better in this livestream.]

[Exactly, Xixi's got a great reputation. Second only to Brother Kai.]

[Little Jiang reaching S rank on Perfect World in a month over summer was already crazy. Now he's at the top of 5E?]

The chat was a mess. It took Leon Kai a while to figure out what was going on.

Then, after a "Helmet" who'd come to alert him pointed it out, he found the latest video from "MTC Jun" on Little Break Station.

[Born with the body of a CS god? A young genius the heavens keep spoon-feeding?]

He clicked on it and saw Ma Xixi exclaim in astonishment, "How many?"

Then the actual video began. In a ranked match, Ma Xixi was being toyed with and baited by the opposing player, "Ma Xixi I'll Top Kill You."

If the other player had really been a cheater, the whole video might have felt tense.

But knowing the guy was Ma Xixi's cousin made it pretty funny.

It was just a little brother messing around with his big brother.

After the match highlights ended, Leon Kai saw Ma Xixi realize that "Ma Xixi I'll Top Kill You" was his cousin.

He also learned that Ma Xixi's cousin had reached the top ranks on both Perfect World and 5E. He was only one step away from an absurd record: first place on both platforms.

"But this is still weird!" Hamburger said, puzzled. "Some of the things he does look really strange. His pre-aim is so weird, and why is his pistol aim so bad? His rifle spray control also looks really shaky."

Leon Kai went over to Perfect World and deliberately downloaded a demo of "Miss, get out of the way."

He knew the account. As a regular on Little Break Station, he'd come across Jiang Yang's clips in MTC Jun's edits. Jiang Yang's "I can hear the sound of ECO" had made him laugh for quite a while.

Now that the account had reached number one on Perfect World, it wasn't surprising that Jiang Yang had also climbed high on 5E.

Leon Kai opened the video and watched it with Hamburger.

"Both accounts belong to him. The main thing now is to check his habits. If his play habits look normal, then that'll pretty much settle it."

There wasn't much reason to doubt him anyway. Given Ma Xixi's character, Leon Kai couldn't believe he'd cheat for no reason.

If something like that blew up, Ma Xixi's account, built up over all these years, would collapse on the spot.

From the chat, he also learned that the kid had already reached S rank on Ma Xixi's computer. He'd shown his talent before.

As a devoted CSGO fan, Leon Kai naturally hoped a young genius would emerge. CNCS was badly in need of fresh blood.

But he still thought it was unlikely. Not even 500 hours!

Could anyone really be that ridiculous?

The map was Dust II.

Leon Kai entered the match and watched the demo carefully.

This time, they finally spotted something different from the matches they'd seen on 5E.

On Dust II, Ma Xixi's cousin was clearly much stronger.

His pistol play was still all about spraying, and his rifle spray control was still shaky.

But watching Jiang Yang's pre-aim during the Full Buy Round made Leon Kai's scalp tingle. "Holy shit, that pre-aim!"

In the Dust II and Overpass matches they'd watched on 5E, Jiang Yang's pre-aim had looked rather formulaic, with a slight stiffness to it.

But in this Mirage match, his pre-aim had a kind of effortless mastery to it.

Wherever he moved his mouse, his aim landed right on the headshot angle.

It looked so clean and precise, with no wasted movement at all.

To high-ranked CSGO players like them, it was a work of art.

[Holy shit, that pre-aim is insane.]

[Is this NIKO or what?]

[But why are his pistol and rifle play so weird?]

Some CSBOY fans thought they knew why.

[Seems like his sensitivity is really high.]

[Spray control takes time to learn. His playtime's not even 500 hours, so it's normal.]

"You're saying he plays on high sensitivity? And he hasn't even played 500 hours?" Leon Kai's eyes widened.

Judging by the way Jiang Yang's crosshair moved, he'd assumed Jiang Yang played on low sensitivity, since the crosshair didn't move very far.

But if he played on high sensitivity and had little playtime, everything made sense.

High sensitivity made spray control less stable than low sensitivity.

And his short playtime was another reason his spray control was shaky.

Spray control required muscle memory, built up over time. You had to gradually learn each weapon's recoil pattern.

He hadn't even played 500 hours. It all added up.

Leon Kai took a deep breath, then said on stream, "To sum up, this proves that 'Ma Xixi I'll Top Kill You'—that is, Ma Xixi's cousin—wasn't cheating. He's just naturally talented."

"You know I watch demos of so-called 'young geniuses' all the time, and analyze POVs from pro players. Let's not even compare him to the pros—this cousin has the most precise pre-aim of any casual player I've ever seen!"

"In the past year, he's also been the most talented player I've watched. His pre-aim is terrifyingly good! Keep in mind, he's only played 500 hours. If he puts in another 1,000, I honestly can't imagine how good he'll be."

"Is there really someone like that? First on both platforms after 500 hours?" Hamburger, who'd thought reaching the top at his age was impressive enough, said in disbelief.

He hadn't expected to end up as the backdrop to a genius.

Leon Kai was just as unsettled. "No, seriously, how is that possible? That pre-aim, and he's only played 500 hours!"

Leon Kai was a dedicated CSGO player who took the fundamentals very seriously. He also spent a lot of time practicing every day.

He'd put thousands of hours into the game, yet he still couldn't match the pre-aim Jiang Yang had shown on the other maps.

And that was before they even got to the pre-aim on Dust II. That was just the comparison in his head. If they put both players' pre-aim clips side by side, the difference would be even more obvious.

They'd worked hard for a long time and still couldn't reach that level, while Jiang Yang had done it with ease. They couldn't help feeling miserable.

Hamburger asked, "Want to keep playing?"

Leon Kai fell silent for several seconds, then let out a long sigh. "Let's go play chess. There's no way I can play CS now."

His confidence had been completely shattered.

PS: There are actually young geniuses like this in real life, too. There's a player on a Mongolian team who made it to a tier-one team with 2,000 hours.

There's more today.